I saw mixed reviews regarding its chuck with the old drill/driver combo but willing to take a risk. My main concern is if it is enough drill for the jobs above. I always used my old Craftsman 3/8" drill (0-1200 rpm) but need something cordless and more versatile to work on the shack.

Advertisement

I have several M12 tools and they are great....for small repair jobs. Sure it will drive a couple 3'' wood screws but it will work for it. If I'm doing any real work I grab the large tools. If you are drilling holes and driving screws that is 2 different tools now a days. You'd want a normal chucked drill and an impact driver. I can't help you stay at your $200 budget since i make a living off my tools I generally buy towards the high end. Milwaukee makes a good 18v and 28v line if you like the Milwaukee brand. Personally for my 18v tools I'm using dewalt, but only cause of the investment from long ago. Go with a decent 18v drill and a matching 18v impact driver. You'll be much happier.

I have a Dewalt 18V cordless drill/impact driver. Works great as a drill, not strong enough to handle hard concrete in impact mode. I almost never try it in impact mode, as I say, not gonna cut it. You can often get Dewalt tools on sale at Lowes, they hold a charge a long time, and have good torque. I am finishing a deck right now, drilled multiple 5/8 inch diameter, 7 inch holes through pressure treated and meranti lumber, worked great. As previously suggested, go for the 18V, much better performance than lower voltage.

I thought about it a little bit more and after seeing these posts I think I'll wait and save for an 18V set. It would be really nice to have a circular saw as an option down the line and the 12V set does not provide that option. It's the batteries and charger that are expensive not the tool so I figure that should be my biggest investment up front first.

I think I am still going with Lithium, though I did see an opportunity to pick up an 18V Dewalt Ni-Cad Drill/driver/hammer drill and circular saw/2 batteries/charger for $230.

As for a separate drill/driver and impact drill - I'd hardly use the latter, just to drill an occasionally tapcon screw. We'll see what set I can find, it is almost ridiculous how many different combo sets there are but not one that has exactly what I want (even for more than $200). They either have too much or too little...

An impact drill is not a hammer drill. 2 totally different tools. If you are driving alot of screws you'll want an impact. I wouldn't worry about the hammer drill as part of a cordless set. Better to get a cheap corded hammer drill to do the job. I'm sure you can find a cheap $50 corded hammer drill that will drill a few holes in concrete a year.

If you go with a major line don't worry as much about the batteries as they will all be interchangeable. Lithium Ion stuff is nice, but my regular ni-cad batteries still do the job. Once you have a handful of batteries you can also buy cordless tools as a "bare tool" without the batteries and charger. At the 18v level you usually see about a $50 savings per tool. After a while the last thing you'll need is yet another charger laying around.

Oops...I saw that after I wrote that - yes, hammer drills pound, the others drive and/or drill. However, what is the downside to driving a lot of screws with a drill/driver?

I have to get all cordless - my shack is in the boonies with no electricity and I have no plans buy a generator. I will have a basic solar set up to charge batteries and/or use the truck w/ an inverter.

Look down the "tool" section here on the forum and you'll see many post about impact drivers. A drill will drive screws but not as well or as smooth as a impact. I can't even imagine having to use a drill to drive screws now.

I saw mixed reviews regarding its chuck with the old drill/driver combo but willing to take a risk. My main concern is if it is enough drill for the jobs above. I always used my old Craftsman 3/8" drill (0-1200 rpm) but need something cordless and more versatile to work on the shack.

Thanks

Forget a "hammer" functionality-- it adds no value to something that small. Are you seriously going to drill a masonry or concrete hole with it? Not a chance. No sense paying for that part.

If you want a small, light tool for the kind of work you mention, the 12V class tools can be stretched to do what you want. I'd highly recommend the new DeWalt 12V line-- prob the best 12V line on the market (I have all major brands, so no real bias on my part).

However, I'd HIGHLY recommend that you consider an 18V class tool from Makita, DeWalt, or Bosch. These tools offer so much more capability in sizes that are still compact and easy to handle all day. You can get slimmer, lighter 18V batteries for the Bosch and Makitas.

Not a cheap tool, but my BTD144 from Makita is my first impact driver (and my first Makita) and I have been simply stunned by it. I can set it on the lowest of 3 settings and do very delicate tasks with great control, while the highest setting has tons of power and speed.

I think an 18V tool that can be adjusted down is a far better long term option than asking a 12V tool to operate at its limits all the time.

That said, the newer generations of 12V tools are more capable than ever (esp Bosch and DeWalt), and may offer plenty for what you want to do at a lower price than an 18V model.

I have some Milwaukee tools I dearly love, but I'm hesitant to consider their newer stuff, as it seems so much more cheaply made than the older stuff.